Babies "R" Us -- Our Registry

So, Graham and I had an exhausting day today registering at Babies R Us. I think this is the only place we'll register because its so hard keeping track of two registries. Graham had a great time with the gun and I had fun checking things off my organized list! The registering lady at the store was amazed at how many items we registered for and she said couples normally come back 3 or 4 times before their registry is complete. Well... I just was so organized, I don't want to have to go back and register again. We mainly tried to register for everything we need/want now and as we purchase the NEED items we'll take them off our list. We also tried to have many different price points for everyone for our shower (I hate it when you print off someones registry and there's only expensive items left). We registered for many blankets and sheets and I'm sure we need all we can get of those.

We were so exhausted afterward we came home and took a long nap! We had a great day preparing for (or trying to) everything that little Graham will need.

If interested, here is our registry information:
Registrant: Sarabeth Quattlebaum -- you can also find it under Kirkman, as well
Co-Registrant: Graham Quattlebaum
Due Date: 12.08.09
Registry Number: 92532623

It's a BOY!!!

Profile View (his hand is near his face)


See the Arrow?!


Look at the Arrow again!

We just got back from the doctors office and we found out we're having a BOY!! We initially went to the office for the second-part of our first-trimester screening... and everything looks great.

We got to see his brain and both hemispheres, his heart and all four areas, his face and lips, his fingers, toes, rail-road looking spine and long legs and arms! Graham and I had a great time looking all around our baby. Once she (the doctor) got around to below the waist our baby bean wasn't shy at all and opened his legs to reveal his boy parts. It was great.

We are so excited that we are having a boy. It was really what we wanted but we were still practicing our "finding out it's a girl-face" haha!! I knew the entire time it was a boy but I started listening to the few people that told us it was a girl and actually starting believing it. But, it's nice knowing how instinctful my body is.

I can't wait to meet him and I already love him that much more because we got to see him today.

His name will either be:
Graham Alden Quattlebaum (Graham is Graham (my husbands) mothers maiden name and Alden is my Dads middle name and his fathers first name.)
or...
Graham Aiden Quattlebaum

Furniture & Bedding Choices

We wanted to share with you the crib, furniture and custom bedding we’ve chosen.

Girl Furniture:







Isabella – Young America Company
We LOVE how girly this furniture is and how it grows with the little one. We will also purchase the bookcase and the dresser with changing station.

Boy Furniture:







MyHaven – Young America Company
I love how masculine this crib is. This crib also grows well with our son. We will also purchase the bookcase and the dresser with the changing station.

Custom Bedding:

Pine Creek – Over The Moon Bedding

We are so excited about our bedding. This is a wonderful gift we’ve received and this the “look” we are going for. We will change certain fabrics to make anything a little softer.

OUCH!

So, I just discovered one less-glamorous pregnancy effect... horrible morning back aches. Its just bad... its like right around my spine and really does hurt! I'm going to have to figure out how to relieve this pain.

2nd Midwife Appointment

16 weeks now: So, this was a pretty ‘normal’ appointment, as much as checkups are concerned. We came in and talked with our midwife, Carol. I was concerned about taking a prescription they prescribed me… so we discussed the pros and cons and it really made me feel better. She is so amazing and objective. Next, we discussed why I’m not gaining any weight. She asked for my meal calendar and we got in big trouble! The first thing she said was “where are your eggs?” We’re supposed to eat at least two eggs a day for the protein. Then we learned that just because I’m making “healthy” choices they may not be the “best” choices. I’m not getting enough protein, so I need to eat more things like… eggs, peanut butter (on anything and everything), Kashi cereal, cheeses. So, I’ll update you next appointment if there’s any change on the weight!

Then we listened to the baby’s heartbeat… it is such a beautiful sound. The first time we heard the heartbeat it was so fast and this time it was much slower and a little more ‘baby-like’. We recorded it on our phones for a good 30 seconds and I can’t stop listening to it. We heard some “wooshing” noises and the midwife said that’s the baby kicking. It was great.

Before the next appointment we should get to feel our baby move. I’m waiting and sometimes I think I may feel it but then I try to be realistic and think it may just be a muscle spasm or gas. I’ll let you know when I know!

On Monday we’re hoping to find out if it’s a boy or girl at our second first-trimester screening!!!!!

Grahams Thoughts: Issue 2

So last night we got home pretty late after hanging out at the lake with my family and Sara and I noticed for the first time that she is REALLY starting to show. It is pretty amazing. She wasn't wearing a loose shirt so I think we would have noticed. It's like it just formed! Anyways, I am no longer freaked out about the belly button popping out thing. I actually did not know that happened until my sister-in-laws did it. Sara has the shallowest belly button in the western hemisphere so ITS COMING!!! I already joked with her that a can will sit perfectly on her big baby bump...I think the belly button poking out will keep it from sliding off!!! Just a thought...

Wait... did we miss something?!

Ok… ok… so, I’m already out of my first trimester and I thought that I would let everyone know what it was really like. No, it hasn’t been all smiles, glowy-ness and tons of energy; I was very, very nauseous ALL the time. I only actually got sick once, when I didn’t eat after taking my prenatals. But, overall if I kept eating… and eating… and eating, I didn’t feel sick. It’s a wonder the power of food. And the fact that I didn’t gain ANY weight during these infamous 3 months.

I was also tired 24/7. It was like narcolepsy. I thought that people were going to start to hate me because they’d be in mid-story and I’d just daze off (C’mon people, have shorter stories). If I didn’t get a nap each day I would be like crazy-psycho pregnant woman… not even knowing what I was truly saying. And that would be with 10 hours of sleep each night.

Lastly, I was a LITTLE emotional at times (Note: this is an opinion and if you ask Graham about my emotionalness and/or crazy-psycho-ness you may get a different answer). After moving in to our house, Graham was so exhausted after doing all of the heavy (and light) lifting and then he had to go back to work and I was left to decorate… ALL BY MYSELF. One day he came home from work and I was just sitting in the middle of the living room covered with decorations surrounding me and as he walked in I said, “You don’t even want this house!?”. He was like… “WHAT???”… I said, crying at this point, “I have to decorate and put together this entire house, by myself and if you wanted it you would decorate too.” He just stood there not quite knowing if I was kidding or serious… but he quickly gathered that since I was sobbing I wasn’t kidding. He consoled me and after about 15 minutes I snapped out of it and we laughed about how crazy I just was.

Now that all of this is behind us… we can forget all of this and move back to seeing me as glowing and energy-filled.

Save The Date!

Baby Shower Dates:

We are so blessed to have so many close friends and family! Keep your eye out for one of the two invites!

Cheri's Shower: Saturday, November 7th at 10am -- It will be a beautiful brunch!

Sybil's Co-Ed Shower: Sunday, October 18th in the afternoon -- It was be a super-fun co-ed shower!

Grahams Thoughts: Issue 1

Graham: I am so excited about Sara and I being pregnant. I have known for a long time that she would be a great mom and I think I’ll be a pretty good Dad. I am worried about things like what their curfew should be, how to keep them away from drugs, sex and the real devil…rock’n’roll. Those are silly things to worry about I know because they are many years away but I am not so worried about having an infant or toddler. I say this now but I really don’t like sleeping. At this moment I am excited about waking up and getting to hold or cuddle our little boy/girl. I am also super excited about having all those cool toys and another person to play soccer with me Matt and Reid..oh and Maggie.

I am also excited about seeing our dogs reactions. I think it will be very funny to watch how they are when we first come home. I think we made a very good decision on waiting this long to get pregnant. It allowed both of us to grow up a lot and experience more in order to be better parents. I really wish we didn’t have to wait another 25 WEEKS!!!

Another thing is that the prego brain is a REAL phenomenon. WoW. Some friends told me about it and I have read about it in several books but it is so weird to experience in real life! I will not use specific examples because I know that would only lead to more trouble for me so maybe after all this is over I will fill y'all in!

Baby Catcher by Peggy Vincent

So, I journeyed out to our local library today to find new information about babies, pregnancy and anything (and everything) else. (I actually went there for something else but I can’t stop thinking about the wonderful process my body is going though).

After spending a few hours in the pregnancy section I came across a book titled “Baby Catcher” by Peggy Vincent. The subtitle stating “Chronicles of a Modern Midwife”. I was instantly hooked and couldn’t wait to get home to begin reading. On a side note, I also rented “The Complete Organic Pregnancy,” “1000 Questions about your Pregnancy,” “Better Food for Pregnancy,” and “The Birth Partner” for Graham; more on those in another post.

After two hours I’m about 1/3 of the way through and I’m amazed at all of the birth stories from the 60’s and 70’s. The reason for this post is that I wanted to share with you a very interesting quote from the book:

Page 58 (Peggy, a RN, having a conversation with her attending physician about the new ‘fad’ of birthing centers):

“Normal birth is a retrospective diagnosis,” he [the doctor] said. “No birth is normal until after the fact. All births are complicated until proven otherwise.” Straightening his shoulders, he walked into the room.
Dumbfounded, I [Peggy] stood in the corridor staring at his back. I realized that he had just provided me with the definition of the difference between doctors and midwives. Midwives believe birth is normal till proven otherwise. Doctors don’t.

This part of the book really spoke to me and I think this a great time to share that Graham and I have decided that our birth is one that will not be had in a hospital. We will be giving birth at a birthing center called “The Birth & Womens Center” (birthcenter.net) here in Dallas, TX. There are many reasons that we have personally chosen this route; however, we simply ask all of our family and friends to surround us with positive reinforcement and birth stories. We are not interested in hearing about that ‘one friend that’s a friend of a friend’ horrible birth story. We would really like to have a positive pregnancy and positive birthing experience. We know that there will be times of pain in both, but we will experience those in our own terms. Thank you for sharing in this journey with us!

More to come when I finish the book in the next few days…

Telling Our Lovies (aka Family)

We waited to tell our family until after the first trimester. I heard this was the safest method, just in case of miscarriage. Luckily we didn’t have any problems but I truly pray for everyone that has. I have broken down exactly how we told each of our family members. I hope it may be helpful for anyone who doesn’t quite know how to say “We’re Expecting”.

My Dad & His Wife: Two years ago Graham and I were out at an Estate Sale and found a beautiful antique book with an old looking paper cover… the title of the book, “To Young To Be A Grandfather.” It was a bargain at $2. I would have paid more for it because my Dad always says this and it was a perfect way to tell him. We’ve moved twice with it now and when it was time to tell him I taped the sonogram picture inside and wrote a special note to my Dad. I wrapped it in paper and we gave it to him. When he unwrapped it he simply stated “Oh, how funny… I always say this”… to our amazement he didn’t quite get what we were trying to say! I told him to open the book and he was in awe of the picture he saw. It was great!!

Graham’s Family: We found out after the Pre-Easter celebration that we have each year. However, we were pregnant during the family photo we took at the Pre-Easter celebration. So, we made a Shutterfly Photo Album ($40) of all of the photos that were taken during the Easter party. The last page in the album we titled “The Fabulous 10 Quattlebaum’s” but there were only 9 of us in the photo. Under the photo we named everyone with things like “Uncle & Aunt, Great-Grandmom” and then it said “Graham, Sara & Baby Bean”. The next photo, on the next page, was the sonogram picture. The first morning we were at our summer home in Hot Springs we gave the album to Graham’s mom. She read the names at the bottom and said… “Baby Bean?”… we then instructed her to turn the page and then she saw the sonogram picture!! Everyone was so excited and cried A LOT.


My Mom & Sister: We bought a sonogram photo frame ($15) at Babies R’Us that said “Love At First Sight”. After Hot Springs we decided to stay at my sister’s house for my nephews’ 6th birthday party the next day. When we woke up the next morning, my mom came over early to help set up and we had my nephew open his birthday gifts. We gave him the fun one first… and then he opened up the gift bag with a picture frame in it. He said “Oh WOW… I picture frame” I said, “Show it to everyone”. He did and everyone’s jaw hit the floor. Priceless!

Graham and Sarabeth are PROUD to introduce....

So… the cats out of the bag and all of our family and friends have been notified! We are EXPECTING and want to scream it from the roof tops. My goal for this blog is to keep everyone updated on the choices we’ve made (and will be making) to progress in our process. I’ve met two wonderful women (Teresha and Brandy) and will be borrowing ideas from their blogs as well as serving as an information-seeker of other products and ideas. Graham will post his opinion in some of the blogs, as well. We are so excited and elated about this new journey!!!

Welcome to our Blog!

Graham and I are very excited about our new blog... stay tuned for updates from us about our family!